1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wiper blade assembly, and more particularly, to a wiper blade assembly structured to better follow the curvature of glass.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wiper blade assembly wipes rain or dirt from a vehicle's windshield to ensure the driver's view. The wiper blade assembly is connected to a wiper arm connected to a driving shaft which is connected to a wiper driving motor on the vehicle side. Thus, the wiper blade is driven by the wiper arm.
The wiper arm and the wiper blade assembly are coupled to each other by a wiper connector. Generally, a member called a clamp is provided in the wiper blade assembly, and a connector member is coupled to the clamp. In a state where the connector member is coupled to the clamp, the wiper arm is coupled to the connector member.
Wiper blade assemblies are broadly classified into three types according to the way a blade closely attached to the surface of a windshield to wipe off dirt is supported.
The first type is a tournament-type wiper in which multi-stage levers are provided, and a blade is supported by ends of each lever.
The tournament-type wiper is the oldest form of wiper assembly. A wiper strip coupled to a linear support member is bent by a plurality of tournament levers to follow the curvature of the vehicle glass. The tournament-type wiper assembly has superior durability since the tournament levers form a stable support point and shows good wiping performance since it can properly follow the curvature of the glass.
However, when a vehicle is driven at high speed, the tournament-type wiper assembly is pulled away from the glass surface of the vehicle by the pressure of air acting on the glass surface. Accordingly, the wiping performance of the tournament-type wiper assembly deteriorates.
To solve this problem, a spoiler member is additionally attached onto each of the tournament levers. In this case, however, since the spoiler member should be additionally manufactured and assembled, the manufacturing costs and weight of parts increase. Also, the addition of the spoiler member impairs the appearance of the vehicle.
The second type is a flat plate-type wiper in which a blade is coupled to and thus supported by a support rail or body spring having a predetermined curvature and elasticity.
The flat plate-type wiper has a low height, is formed integrally with the blade, and has simple appearance.
However, since a windshield has a different curvature according to the vehicle model, it is difficult to perfectly wipe the entire area of the windshield no matter how excellent the elasticity of the body spring is. In addition, when the wiper moves to a point with a different curvature, ends of the wiper may fail to follow the curvature of the windshield, that is, may lift off the surface of the windshield.
To address these problems, a uniblade-type wiper, which is the third type, has been suggested. In the uniblade-type wiper, a flat plate-type wiper is reinforced and supported by a tournament structure.
That is, in a uniblade-type wiper assembly, two tournament levers are installed only in the middle of a tournament wiper strip, and the tournament levers are covered with a cover having a spoiler function and then coupled to the cover.
However, since both ends of the wiper strip are not properly supported in the uniblade-type wiper assembly, the uniblade-type wiper assembly cannot properly follow the curvature of glass.